Greater New Orleans

Only months after Hurricane Katrina, then-Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard presented his and the Parish Council's "Back to Business BuildingTomorrow" plan at the Alario Center in Westwego, on Nov. 10, 2005. Officials also discussed the post-Katrina drainage wish list Broussard was to present in Washington D.C. A month earlier, Broussard was sued in a class-action lawsuit, for allegedly ordering pump operators to evacuate the day before the storm made landfall. Pictured is then-Councilman-at-large John Young and then-Gretna Mayor Ronnie Harris. Young said in sworn testimony last year he was unaware the Broussard administration would evacuate the pump operators.
(NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina's landfall, a congressional committee opened an investigation into government emergency plans and the local, state and federal government's actual response to the catastrophic storm. The ad hoc committee released a report of more than 430 pages, concluding that Katrina was "a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare."

The lawsuits were filed by property owners to blame the local government and then-Parish President Aaron Broussard for ordering drainage pump operators to evacuate on the day before the storm's Aug. 29, 2005 landfall. Plaintiffs say that amounts to willful misconduct.

The parish's attorneys deny wrongdoing. They argue that Broussard was following the official plan that called for the pump operators' evacuation, and that the parish has discretionary immunity from liability.

For purposes of determining the classes of plaintiffs, the parish is divided by the Mississippi River: Property owners in East Jefferson comprise one subclass, property owners in West Jefferson the other. A plaintiff's attorney has estimated that some 30,000 properties across the parish were damaged because the drainage pumps were left unstaffed.

The congressional report is among the almost 205 items included in the attorneys' exhibit lists, which was filed in the District Court before Christmas. The exhibits include 29 depositions, taken from an array of elected officials, including Broussard; his emergency director during Katrina, Walter Maestri; as well as Parish Council members and aides at the time.

And jurors can expect to see the so-called "doomsday plan," an element of the parish government's emergency operations plan. It automatically called for employee evacuations in the event a strong hurricane was forecast to strike the region.

Over objections even from some pump operators, the employees were sent to Washington Parish on the day before Katrina's landfall. They remained evacuated through the storm, unable to return quickly because roads were impassible, attorneys have said.

Judging from the exhibit list, jurors will read reports from experts who provide their opinions on the extent of flooding during and after the storm and view photos and will see videos of overflowing drainage canals. They'll hear about buildings rated to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds, places within Jefferson where the pump operators could have ridden out Katrina.

The jurors also will hear about the 17th Street Canal breach that flooded New Orleans and spilled into some areas of Old Metairie and Old Jefferson.

Still pending in the case is a request by the parish's attorneys to move the trial out of Jefferson because of adverse pretrial publicity, including stories about Broussard's unrelated criminal woes. It's unclear whether Broussard, who is serving a 46-month sentence in Butner, N.C., will be delivered to Gretna to testify.

Judge John Peytavin of Lutcher, a retired jurist who was appointed to handle the case after the Jefferson Parish bench recused itself, told attorneys last month he'll wait until jury selection is underway before ruling on the venue question.